Illinois’s Chain O’Lakes: Social Boating at Its Best
Photo used under a Creative Commons license.
Few images better capture a summer Saturday than sitting on a boat with a beer in hand. And it’s best enjoyed in Illinois’s best-kept secret: a vibrant boating community just over an hour from the Windy City.
The Chain O’Lakes in Illinois’s northeast corner hosts the gamut of summer lake recreation, from spirited bars and restaurants accessible along the chain, to over 6,500 square acres of water for cruising, fishing, and water recreation. The area is riddled with marinas and boat launches for boat owners to access. A collection of boat rental locations welcomes access for non-boaters, too.
“The Chain” stems from the Fox River, connecting 15 lakes through a series of small channels. Its largest lakes, Fox Lake, Petite Lake, Buff Lake, Lake Marie, Grass Lake, and Pistake Lake, can be accessed in one afternoon cruise. The narrow channels that connect the lakes require boaters to pass in close quarters under no wake. However, this is a must-see people-watching social event on its own.
A friendly wave may be exchanged or met with a cool off from an oversized water launcher in a fun display of camaraderie born from hot days on the channel. Fake palm trees, comical statues, party lights, and Caribbean-inspired decor adorn piers and houses along the channels, celebrating the Chain’s active boat culture. Loud country music and cheerful, boisterous conversation join the sounds of deep-humming motors passing through.
The lake offers endless opportunities for a dip to cool off, but the best spots to do so are at the sandbars on Petite Lake and Lake Marie, which offer waist-high, and in some spots even thigh-high, swimming depths. Petite Lake’s sandbar is relatively calm to begin the day but turns into a nighttime hot spot as the sun goes down. Its location in a cove right at the mouth of the channel between Fox Lake and Petite Lake shields it from too much wind or rough waters, making it an ideal spot for larger gatherings. At the northern end of the chain, Lake Marie’s sandbar sits in a much larger lake that can be subject to rougher waters depending on winds. It gets crowded as well, but can offer a bit more family friendly atmosphere.
For a deepwater swimming option, Dunn’s Lake (accessible through two small channels adjacent to Nippersink Lake) is the area’s best kept secret. Tranquil residential homes and mature wooded neighborhoods shelter this calmer area of the Chain. Its perma-calm waters offer consistent conditions for water sports, and therefore frequently invite skiers, tubers, and wakeboarders. Yet in the middle of the lake, you’ll often find anchored boats with swimmers bobbing by to soak up rays in bathwater-warm water temperatures.
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